Using Crochet to Manage Stress

As someone who has lived their whole life as a high stress human, I am always searching for ways to not only relieve my stress and anxieties, but also learn to manage them in a constructive way. I would love to be the kind of person who isn’t set off by the smallest things and fixates on tiny details. I drive myself insane with worry and stress all day, everyday. I am not a naturally a calm person, BUT I have learned (and am still learning) ways to control my stresses. Stress does not have to control me. And one of the tangible things that has helped me is crochet!

What is stress?

Stress is your body’s natural response to danger. So when taken back to its definition, stress is a good thing. It makes us stronger in crisis situations. But when stress takes over, it can cause a complete shutdown. This is the realm of stress I tend to fall into. Instincts kick in and take over. So for fear of failure, we stress over deadlines. For fear of bugs and rats, we stress over cleaning. Even for fear of rejection, we stress over clothes, shoes, hair, makeup, etc. Danger is created in daily tasks, increasing the amount of stress experienced, and most of the time it is completely unnecessary.

If you have read my other posts, you may have seen my post on Why I Started Crocheting (if not you can read it here). I talk about how my original reason for starting my craft was because I was lonely, bored, and had idle hands. I had no idea that it would benefit me in the ways it did, not only because I make the dolls, but because it calms me and brings me relief from the stresses of the day. Anymore when I start to get anxious or stressed my husband will even say “go work on some hexagons, you need to relax”.

How Crochet works for me:

• It allows me to decompress WITHOUT turning to social media. I find that I spend a lot of time on screens and that does not help my overactive brain or help me calm down. Working with my and allows me to decompress while thinking about my day. Spending an hour on social media riles me up and shatters my confidence because I’m not getting enough likes or my house doesn’t look like this person’s, or my selfies aren’t as nice.
• It is a productive task. When I get home from work I am tired. I don’t have the energy to do hardly anything. If I finish just 1 or 2 hexagons though, which takes very little energy, I feel like I have really accomplished something. Especially when I add my little tally marks to my board (there are 196 of them, I can’t just keep counting them every time I’m curious).
• I can multitask. My money making job is that I work at Barnes and Noble, and because of that I feel the need to read a lot of books. Don’t get me wrong, I love reading, but I’m talking like 3 books a week. With crocheting (especially my hexagons), I am able to listen to an audio book and work on my project at the same time. I can also do other things like laundry, watch Netflix, bake a pie. The empty space when I would normally whip out my phone I can fill with finishing a hexagon (which only takes about 18-20 minutes).

So what do you need to do to start this craft and lower your daily stress levels?

Learn basics of crochet

You don’t need to be an expert to use this craft as a stress reliever. You simply need to know how to do maybe 3 different stitches. The pattern I am using right now uses Chains, Slip Stitch, Single Crochet and Double Crochet. That’s it. And you don’t have to go buy a bunch of books or anything, Pinterest and Youtube will be your friend! For less than $5 you can get a hook and a ball of yarn at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby (plus always check online for coupons) and get on crocheting.

Find a pattern

Before you buy yarn or nice hooks or anything like that, make sure you find a pattern. You want to use something repetitive. I recommend something that uses the same granny square (or circle or hexagon) over and over.

I am currently using the Molly Makes Crochet pattern for the Hexagon Motif Blanket designed by Anita Mundt. It is just 196 hexagons that are the same, just in different colors. I happened to find this book at Half Price Books for $6 and I have a weakness for Mollie Makes. You do not have to spend money on a pattern though. There are tons of patterns for free on Pinterest, just search “Granny Square Blanket” or even “Relaxing Crochet” and you will find tons of fun patterns. The benefit of having a book like this, or even most crochet magazines, is that it has an instructional section that teaches you how to use the patterns and read the abbreviations.

Once you have your pattern selected, find the “materials needed” portion and there you will find what size hook you need as well as what size yarn. Now you get to go shopping! You don’t even have to leave the comfort of your couch, just jump online! Or if you are like me, go to a craft store (Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Joann’s, or a local shop) and touch all the yarn until you find something that feels delicious.

Start Crocheting!

This is the part where you are gonna get an hour or two into your project (depending on the size of your project) and you are going to curse me and say “THIS ISN’T RELAXING YOU DIRTY ROTTEN LIAR!” Now before you yell at me, you will need to make a few squares, hexagons, or whatever it is you are making. Once you get into the rhythm of the pattern, you will find that you are able to let your hands do the brunt of the work. It took me about 10 hexagons before I was no longer referring to the book saying “now what’s the next step”, but now I just play my audio book and count.

It is definitely easier said than done, but if you stick to it, crochet can be very beneficial! If you have any questions or want to share your experiences using crochet to manage your stress leave a comment or contact me!